Concepts. People and Theories of the Week

Expand your knowledge of the world and universe that surrounds us. Regardless of your primary interests, goals and beliefs, I believe it is important to truly understand the world that we live in. Heighten your awareness and strive to learn something new along the way. We all realize the importance of physical stimuli, but don’t neglect to exercise your mind as well.

September 27, 2010

Auguste Comte: French social theorist and founder of sociology (a term he coined, meaning the scientific study of society).

September 26, 2010

Relativism: philosophical doctrine that holds no truths or values to be absolute; they more closely related to our cultural, personal, spiritual and historical perspective.

September 25, 2010

Operant conditioning: associated with American psychologist B.F. Skinner and involves voluntary responses based on perceived outcomes.

September 24, 2010

Elizabeth Cady Stanton: social reformer and founder of feminism. In 1848, her and Lucretia Mott organized the 1st women’s rights convention in Seneca Falls, New York.

September 23, 2010

McCarthyism: politically motivated efforts to discredit opponents through the implication of guilt by association with individuals or organizations considered leftist or potentially subversive. The term was coined by Washington Post political cartoonist Herblock (Herbert Block) in the early 1950’s and correlated to the crusade of Wisconsin senator Joseph R. McCarthy.

September 22, 2010

Dada: artistic and literary movement before and after World War I that rejected traditional aesthetic forms and social values, while focusing on ironic nihilism. It was founded in Zurich in 1915 by a group of political exiles and consisted of Jean Arp, Tristan Tzara, Max Ernst, May Ray and Marcel Duchamp — just to name a few.

September 21, 2010

Anthropic principle: controversial aspect of cosmology, stating that the universe must allow for the existence of intelligent life capable of observing it.

September 20, 2010

Common law: a system of law and jurisprudence based on precedent rather than written codes or statues. It embodies stare decisis (Latin, “to stand by settled decisions.”)

September 19, 2010

Manifest destiny – coined on the eve of the Mexican War in 1845, in which the US annexed Texas and California by journalist John O’Sullivan

September 16, 2010

obfuscate *verb* — to confuse, bewilder or stupefy.

2. to make obscure or unclear: to obfuscate a problem with extraneous information.

Blog Subscription: The Continuous Disquisition

While Easter is a religious occasion, for most of us it's about an avalanche of sugary treats. But while chocolate rabbits and Easter eggs are the traditional go-tos, one innovative team has created a new kind of Frankenfection. Fusing Easter's traditional hot cross bun with an ice cream cone, Giapo's R&D Kitchen in Auckland has created th […]

The calendar may say it's the first day of spring, but it will seem more like the movie Groundhog Day along the East Coast on Tuesday. The fourth nor'easter in just three weeks will begin to take shape across the Mid-Atlantic, as the first of two waves of low pressure spreads a wintry mix of snow, sleet, and rain from West Virginia to Delaware. Th […]

One of the most startling revelations of Facebook's ongoing Cambridge Analytica controversy is just how easy it was for a third-party developer to access millions of people's personal data without their knowledge — even if they hadn't downloaded the app themselves. That's because Facebook's policies prior to 2014 were much more lax t […]

Chill out, everyone. Michael Avenatti, a lawyer for Stormy Daniels, didn't just claim he had a picture of Trump's orange wang. (Sorry, allegedly orange.) SEE ALSO: Stormy Daniels is crowdfunding her lawsuit against Donald Trump because 2018 is wild A bunch of people on Twitter freaked out after this tweet went viral. Stormy’s Lawyer on MSNBC. I’l […]

The "Race to the Clouds" is on and Volkswagen is putting its all-electric I.D. R Pikes Peak prototype racing car to the test. The Pikes Peak International Hill Climb on June 24 in Colorado's Rocky Mountains is a 100-plus year tradition that races vehicles on a 12.4-mile route up to 14,115 feet above sea level with more than 100 turns to naviga […]

ProTip: When discussing nefarious techniques to entrap politicians and swing elections, first make sure you're not secretly being filmed. That, apparently, was a memo the CEO of Cambridge Analytica, Alexander Nix, missed. The executive was caught on film by investigators with London's Channel 4 News discussing all the ways his company can influenc […]

It's not a great time to own Facebook stock. The social media company's market valuation fell by roughly $40 billion on Monday following the revelation that the Trump-linked, U.K.-based company Cambridge Analytica harvested information from 50 million Facebook profiles without user consent. The company's stock price was down 6.8 percent by the […]

Facebook's getting rocked by yet another electioneering crisis, but we still haven't heard anything from its commander-in-chief. Mark Zuckerberg has yet to issue a public statement following revelations this weekend that a Trump-aligned data firm was able to abuse his platform to manipulate 50 million people. The Facebook CEO commands massive reach […]

You can breathe again, everyone: Daphne the duck is safe! A beloved member of the Cockburn Masters Swimming Club in Australia, the giant rubber duck was supposed to be the star of an annual ocean swimming competition, but strong winds pulled her from her post and into the Indian Ocean. She was last seen at Coogee Beach in Perth on Mar. 11, just before the s […]

Aside from the (very depressing, long drawn-out) drama between Sarah Jessica Parker and Kim Cattrell, opportunities to break out our best Sex and the City jokes are few and far between. But now, loyal HBO viewers, we have our chance: Cynthia Nixon of SATC fame announced Monday that she will run for governor of New York. Miranda 2018! SEE ALSO: 'Sex and […]